


The More Things Change

by WesternScribe



Category: Blood of Zeus (Cartoon), Blood of Zeus (Netflix)
Genre: Adultery, Blood and Gore, Cults, Explosions, F/M, Gods, Guns, Intimidation, Modern Era, Organized Crime, Smut, Violence, because i can't help myself, pawns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:42:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28932726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WesternScribe/pseuds/WesternScribe
Summary: Alexia has been appointed lead to the most important case of her career, life in the big city is harder than Heron thought, and Seraphim is sure he's heard the voice of God. In Athens, you either sink or swim.
Relationships: Hera/ Seraphim (Blood of Zeus), Hera/Zeus (Blood of Zeus), Heron/ Alexia (Blood of Zeus)
Kudos: 10





	The More Things Change

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!  
> I'm having one of those months (you know the ones where everything is annoying as all fuck), but I just quit my job (best decision I've ever made), and I don't feel so much like Atlas anymore. I might even get the chance to write the next chapter of my smut fic (looking at you Queen's Gambit). Until then, enjoy this.

The door burst inward, crashing into the wall opposite it with a loud bang.

Alexia saw everything at once: the men filing into the small office like ants in a march, dressed all in black, from head to heel, their faces concealed by masks, save for the eye openings.

She knew these men.

They were a part of the criminal syndicate she had been tasked to bring to justice. The Dæmons of Attikí.

For seven months, she and her team investigated the aftermath of their work, wreckage from explosions and burnt villages; homicides so gruesome, they looked to be done by the hands of animals; trails of money laundered from banks in Italia, Croatia, and Switzerland.

They were without motive and highly unpredictable, but sometimes, she got lucky. She had seen the blurry images of the few men her team managed to capture on camera. _Not much, but something_. She had also done hundreds of hours of legwork, though that amounted to little more than disappearing leads.

They were ghosts, these men, shadows she chased, until now.

Each carried large assault weapons, AK- 47 rifles as she expected they would, and as they surrounded her and the man she thought to be her friend, she knew there was little time to react.

 _Twenty in the room and more coming. I can go through the window._ Her eyes flickered to the dormer. A metal record's cabinet was partially in front of the casement, standing nearly a meter and a half in height. It could easily weigh over one hundred and fifteen kilograms. She cursed.

Even if she managed to squeeze past and reach the window, they were on the sixth floor of the office building, and there was only concrete and asphalt below to meet her.

_Shit._

Alexia reached back for her pistol. She could take maybe half before they subdued her. She could use the ensuing chaos to her advantage. She could-

Kheiron grabbed her wrists firmly from behind.

"What are you doing?" She growled.

"Keeping you alive."

He told her to come alone. Why did she come alone? It was a rookie mistake, and she was a seasoned agent. _Trust no one_. Those were the words he told her on the first day of her tutelage. _Stupid, stupid, stupid…_

He moved her hands away from her gun holster, her knives in her utility belt, her entire defense, and wrapped her arms about her chest at an awkward angle. Holding her body close to his, Kheiron disarmed her effectively.

"How could you do this?" She demanded as she tried to wriggle free. He was her mentor. He taught her all she knew about this job. _How could he turn his back on it now_? "This contradicts everything you claim to stand for!"

"I'm sorry. They have Kassandra and my boys."

Alexia began to kick the ground, flailing her legs wildly to break the old man's stance. He lifted her in response and held her tighter to his chest.

"Settle down."

The order came from the back of the group of Dæmons. It was loud, authoritarian, imposing. She could only guess of its owner.

The men parted for him much like the Red Sea did for Moses. He was tall, almost as tall as Kheiron; muscular, with thick corded arms and a barrel chest. And although he was young, younger than her for sure, maybe twenty-four at the oldest, he spoke with the easy confidence of a leader.

The man walked slowly, evenly, his mighty shoulders back and his head high. Under such circumstances, an ordinary person would be terrified, she's sure, but Alexia had trained for situations like this, and the scene before her sparked only excitement. _This must be him_. She couldn't keep the smile from her lips. _Finally, you have a face._

The man was unmasked. She sought to commit every detail of his person to memory.

Unarmed, he wore the same black leather boots, the same black cargo pants, the same black long sleeved, long necked, form-fitting shirt as those behind him, but the concealment stopped there.

His skin was a dark beige, like warm sand. His face smooth and unblemished, with a straight nose and lips so full, they seemed almost misplaced on a man. There was a small cleft along the bridge between the nostrils. He'd high cheekbones and a strong chin. His black hair was long and hung over his right shoulder in a thick braid that brushed his waist.

"You're him aren't you?" She pressed. "The Manticore of Kórinthos."

He rose a brow. "And if I were?"

"A bold move, showing your face to me. It'll be that much easier to capture you now. My back up will be here in minutes.” She lied. “Your operation is finished."

She thought he would curse, hoped he would panic. She didn't expect his laughter. "A cop with a sense of humor. You're brave, I'll give you that." He looked up, spoke to Kheiron. "Do you have the map?"

"I have it here."

Alexia was helpless as she watched the flash drive she worked so hard to obtain get handed so readily to the Manticore.

"Kheiron-"

"I'm sorry," her mentor said again.

The Manticore sighed in satisfaction and placed his prize in a zipping pocket of his pants.

"You'll pay for this." She vowed. "I'll find the dankest, darkest cell in Europe for you to rot in."

His eyes narrowed. He leaned in close to her face. "I may have been wrong when I called you brave, Agent Alexia. You may just be stupid. You’re being very disrespectful. I've killed for far less."

She twisted and shifted, trying to break free of Kheiron's hold. "Try to kill me if you want but let me go so I can fight. Are you too much of a coward to face me?"

He laughed again. "Or is it that you're crazy? I can't tell. I don’t normally fight girls. There’s no sport in it. It will be nothing to knock you to the ground-"

"An easy thing to say with your men behind you."

He ignored her. "How much do you weigh? Sixty kilograms soaking wet?"

"I'm strong enough to beat you."

He rolled his eyes.

"A, N, take her-"

Kheiron backed away. "You said she wouldn't be harmed."

The Manticore frowned and tilted his head a fraction. "Have you forgotten our arrangement, old man?"

Kheiron hesitated, but after a moment stood tall. "No!" He yelled. "She stays with me. That was the deal."

Narrowing his eyes, the Manticore crossed his arms about his chest. "It's her or your family. You decide."

"I," Kheiron looked around the room, searching for some way out she hoped.

"I will not tell you again."

"I," he repeated.

Alexia felt his hold loosen. He lowered her to the floor and two of the Dæmons came to zip tie her wrists together.

The Manticore was pleased. "You made the right choice, Kheiron."

As they frisked her, she shot him a death glare. "What you do in this life, you pay for a hundred-fold in the next. You’re pathetic, going after a retired agent and his family. Harm any of them, and I'll send you to hell myself."

"So, you're a woman of faith? It makes sense. Religious fanatics are all insane." He shook his head. "You don't know when you've lost, do you? Allow me to make it clearer." He stepped closer to her. Kheiron made to lunge but stopped short when the Manticore glanced his way.

He didn't touch her, merely loomed over her. "I'll give you a choice, same as I did your friend. Work with me and you'll be well taken care of. Refuse me," the hands of his goons turned rough as they searched her, "and they'll never find your remains. I'll send you to the old Gods. Poseidon will hide you well, I promise."

"I'll never join your mob." She sneered.

"I'm no _Don_." That seemed to upset him. "And we're not mafia." He spat. "I am a revolutionary." His tone was frank. "This is the beginning of the new world."

"And you call me crazy." She pulled against the rope prickling the skin of her arms. It was no use. "You're a terrorist."

He liked that less than the mob comparison. His hand was a whooshing movement from the corner of her eye. Alexia braced herself for the strike, but it never came.

The Manticore touched one of the tendrils of her hair that fell out of place. Rubbing it between his fingers, he regarded her with all the disapprobation of a disgruntled parent.

"You'll feel differently when I show you the ruins."

"What ruins? What are you talking about?" There was nothing connecting ruins to his organization in the agency's database. She cursed the paucity of their resources.

He knew that threw her for a loop. His eyes flickered with mirth. "You'll know I'm right. Even good Christian women like yourself can’t deny what’s in front of them."

He was getting off on this.

She had enough of his bullshit. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know nearly everything about you. You never miss the Divine Liturgy at your corner church. You cut the stems from your strawberries before you wash them in your old, rusting colander. You grind your own coffee beans each morning. I even know what type of shampoo you use, the brand of tampons you buy."

She failed to stifle her gasp. "How long have you been following me?"

"Long before my file landed on your desk. That's something they didn't teach you in your Interpol detective training. If you're gonna hunt something, you have to learn its habits."

"If I'm prey," she glared, "why haven't you struck?"

"You're resourceful and intelligent." He held her stare. "It would be a shame to kill you." He seemed earnest.

"You're wasting your time."

"I hope not. You'll make the right choice, or you'll burn away with the rest of the filth." A quick glance at his wristwatch.

"Light the match." She set her jaw. 

He huffed a laugh. "You’re a fighter. That’s good." The Manticore addressed the two goons holding her. "She needs time to think. Take her to number five and be quick about it. We're finished here."

They put a black sack over her head, and someone lifted her, carrying her over their shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She heard Kheiron yell for them to stop, then a loud thump and he wheezed.

Alexia bucked around. “Stop!” She hollered. “Don’t hurt him.”

But no one paid attention to her.

They were headed down a flight of stairs. She wiggled all the while, until she crashed to the floor and made her kidnapper fall too.

“Stupid bitch!” He cursed, grabbing her by the waist.

“Knock her out.” Someone said from behind them, from above them.

“Boss won’t like that.” Another said.

“Well, you carry her ass.”

“He told you to do it. And you’re bigger than me besides.”

“You don’t have to listen to him.” Alexia said, though they acted as if she said nothing.

“Yea,” the man carrying her agreed. “So shut your cunt mouth and hit her over the head.”

“Hit me and I’ll kick your ass!” Her threat fell on deaf ears.

“I’m not doing it. You do it.”

“I’m not-“

“Will you idiots shut the fuck up.” A new man stage whispered. “Do you want someone to hear us? He’ll just love that. Give it to me. I’ll shut her up, and if you keep talking, I’ll do the same to you.”

“Wait a minute-“ her words were rushed.

“No time to wait.”

He struck her hard across the temple and everything went silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alexia is an Amazon in spirit. Always. Though she is a bit gabby in this. Oh well. Disregard any OCCishness. I'll try to keep it to a minimum. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading.


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